Arriving to Tarragona, Spain

If you are looking to avoid the hustle and bustle of big cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, yet you wish to be close to a big city at the same time, enjoy the warm Mediterranean beaches of Spain and explore some cultural sites, then Tarragona might just be the place for you. 

The city boasts of beautiful beaches, even a nude beach too, well if like me you are not European, then it can be shocking. As I was saying...beautiful beaches, great weather, affordable lifestyle, a good number of bars, good public transportation, a lot of culture and history and good wine (this is VERY important to me).

Now that you know why you should do your Erasmus in Tarragona, keep reading for more technical information. In my next post I will provide you with more information on sights to see and other fun things to do.

Airports: 

Barcelona Reus "Ryanair" airport (REU) 

It is the nearest airport, you can easily reach it by train from Tarragona on arrival to Reus there are shuttle busses available. There are flights to The UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Ireland.

Barcelona airport (BCN)

To reach it you can either go by train or with the Plana Bus. Look at the schedule to see which bus goes directly to the airport just to make your life easier. From BCN you can travel to many destinations.

Girona Costa Brava Airport (GRO)

You can get there by train as well however it is the furthest airport. And has many Ryanair flights to Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Morocco, Poland etc. If you love The Game of Thrones, remember that the city of Girona was one of the filming locations!

PLEASE NOTE: For your own convenience and peace of mind, should you travel to Barcelona by bus on a weekend, remember to purchase your ticket during the week. 

Getting around:

Getting around Tarragona is very easy, besides the streets are so full of history that you would want to get lost in them. However, you can purchase a monthly bus ticket at the bus station, but if you are planning to mostly be around Tarragona, you probably won’t make much use of it.

Shopping for food:

Mercat central de Tarragona

Here you can buy daily fresh produce from meat to vegetables and fruit. You can also grab a good quick lunch here from one of the many food stalls.

Supermarkets:

Mercadona

There is one right below the Mercat central de Tarragona. It is your basic type of supermarket where you can find almost everything you need. Meat, vegetables, fruits, fish, cleaning products etc, it is also reasonably priced.

Origem

If you are searching more bio products it is one of the supermarkets you will find it at. It also has fresh produce and other good products such as soups and frozen pizzas which are not from international brands, but rather their own brand. It is a little bit more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Carrefour

This brand can be found in France too, it is quite a large supermarket, however they have an international section where you can find brands from countries such as Russia.

Shopping for other needs:

There are many clothing stores all over the city especially located near Las Ramblas. If you need miscellaneous items, there are many Asian stores around the city.

Parc Central

This is a shopping mall so you have a variety of options here

If you are not from Spain, I would recommend you try 100 montaditos (it roughly translates to 100 small sandwiches). It’s a franchise where you can choose from 100 different fillings for your bread and per bread it can be around 1 to 1.50 euros. They have an English menu laminated on the counter and not on the tables.

In Parc Central there are many other shops if you need affordable blankets and sheets for the time being you can purchase it at Parc Central.

El Corte Ingles

If you are a penny pincher like me, because you prefer to spend your money on travelling, you probably wouldn’t do your shopping here. There brands you can find here include Puma, Converse, Armani, Lacoste etc, but there is also a dentist office and other offices in the building.

Les Gavarres shopping mall

This is not located in the city centre so you will have to go by bus and it can take a while. You won’t really need to travel all the way here, however if you need sports equipment it could be worth it as there is a store called Decathlon which sells affordable sports equipment.